Kogi Poll: INEC Denies Alleged Manipulation of Accreditation Data On IReV

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied the alleged manipulation of accredited figures of voters in the Kogi governorship election results uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, as reported in some sections of the media.

The National Commissioner and Member Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, in a statement issued on Tuesday described the reports as unfounded and therefore urged the public to disregard the misleading report and misinformation.

Haruna noted: “The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) attention has been drawn to some media reports alleging that the Commission was tampering with the accredited figures of voters in the Kogi Governorship Election results uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. However, these reports are unfounded.”

He stressed that for the avoidance of doubt, the most accurate and up-to-date Voters’ Accreditation Data is available in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which is used for the authentication and accreditation of registered voters at various polling units on election day.

He said it automatically retains the accreditation data of all voters.

The Commission further explained that BVAS was designed to primarily work offline without Internet connectivity, which facilitates faster and seamless authentication and accreditation experience for voters.

Haruna pointed out that when its application is active or in use, depending on the strength of its connection to the Internet, the BVAS automatically exports the accreditation data to the Accreditation Backend System (ABS).

He noted that this exportation of data does not happen when the device’s application is inactive or when the Internet connectivity is poor.

The national commissioner said the same experience applies to a situation where more than one BVAS gadget is used at a polling unit with more than 1,250 registered voters.

He emphasised that this could be compared to a situation when poor network services delay the delivery of an SMS sent from one individual to another through a mobile phone.

Haruna added that at the close of the poll, Presiding Officers are expected to press the data exportation button on the BVAS to ensure that all the accreditation data are exported to the ABS.

He stressed: “This process, referred to as synchronisation and which is ongoing, could lead to changes in the accreditation figures as more data flow in to update the existing figures. This is the basis for the caveat provided on the IReV portal, regarding the accreditation figures. The accreditation data cannot be changed on the BVAS after the close of the poll.”